jerryroche wrote:I'd lead the cheer for "More Lars!"--but not if it means he has to get slugged in the family jewels again. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Well...maybe A-Rod...or TWoA...or Pittspuke Ben...

I have no issues with Lars getting punched in the balls for the sake of a story.

I have to give credit to JayAre for the lineup analysis bit and link. I don't even know if he's over here, but a good bit of that was borrowed from his wisdom.

I had to write this because the full ass meltdown on my twitter timeline over Perez and lineup configurations is just so infuriatingly ignorant and misplaced that it drives me nuts. Seriously, a tired Perez had no chance against that part of the Detroit lineup, and complaining Cabrera is hitting fourth is just ignorant in that it has almost no bearing on the outcome of the game. If you want to argue he shouldn't be batting at all and that Aviles should be full time at shortstop, well, that would be terrible, but at least you could argue something that would have a result.

I would love to see a manager have the balls to employ a no-closer and a mathematical lineup strategy. I'd love to see OUR manager do that. And I'd love never to get punched in the balls again, figuratively or literally.

[quote="LarsHancock"]I have to give credit to JayAre for the lineup analysis bit and link. I don't even know if he's over here, but a good bit of that was borrowed from his wisdom.

I had to write this because the full ass meltdown on my twitter timeline over Perez and lineup configurations is just so infuriatingly ignorant and misplaced that it drives me nuts. Seriously, a tired Perez had no chance against that part of the Detroit lineup, and complaining Cabrera is hitting fourth is just ignorant in that it has almost no bearing on the outcome of the game. If you want to argue he shouldn't be batting at all and that Aviles should be full time at shortstop, well, that would be terrible, but at least you could argue something that would have a result.

I would love to see a manager have the balls to employ a no-closer and a mathematical lineup strategy. I'd love to see OUR manager do that. And I'd love never to get punched in the balls again, figuratively or literally.[/quot

This is a big part why managers don't count.

It took anyone who ever watched a week worth of baseball to figure out after about 7 or 8 pitches Perez was going to be in "get me over fastball mode" real quick.

And if we were all watching that inning with our hand covering our eyes, you can be damn sure Francona was to.

But apparently you can't beak "the formula."

Which is so ingrained, by the way, that I don't blame Francona - cause 29 other puppets woulda done exactly the same thing.

Ideally you have a LOOGY and a ROOGY for those 6th and 7th innings when the starter loses it and puts runners on. Think Raffie Perez at his peak and Joe Smith the last couple of years (not this year, though). You bring those guys in to pitch to one or two batters to get out of the inning, then use your closer in the 9th.

If you don't have a decent LOOGY or ROOGY, however, then I agree that you use your best relief pitcher to get out of the jam, even if he is the closer.

It's a shame Kluber got hurt. Salazar would have been a great addition to the bullpen down the stretch. They could bring him in to get a K with runners on or use him as the 8th inning guy like Bobby Howry a few years back.

motherscratcher wrote:I'm still waiting for PUP to weigh in on the part about closers.

Too busy shaking my head over the lineup portion.

But, to take the closer thing a step further...why not just rate your staff 1-12. Game 1 you go with your best pitcher. When he needs replaced, why go with your 8th best pitcher. Just go to #2 on the list. Why do we continually put our faith in pitchers that are not as good.

Start Masterson. He gives you 6. Why not have Kluber finish that day off?

motherscratcher wrote:I'm still waiting for PUP to weigh in on the part about closers.

Too busy shaking my head over the lineup portion.

But, to take the closer thing a step further...why not just rate your staff 1-12. Game 1 you go with your best pitcher. When he needs replaced, why go with your 8th best pitcher. Just go to #2 on the list. Why do we continually put our faith in pitchers that are not as good.

Start Masterson. He gives you 6. Why not have Kluber finish that day off?

Is this some kind of trick question?

Because there are quite a few pitchers who can get 1-3 outs at a time effectively. Your 6th, 7th, and 8th best pitchers can combine to prevent runs as well as Kluber could by himself for those three innings. And now you have Kluber available to pitch 6 innings tomorrow, something that your 6th-8th best pitchers couldn't combine to do nearly as well.